Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category

Thursday, September 6th, 2018

Photo: limpingintotruth.com

I respect people who change their minds for good reasons. It takes guts especially if they are in the public eye. However in some cases when intelligent people know they are slamming a stick on a beehive, why do they chicken out when they must have anticipated they’d be stung?

This is what happened when David Remnick, whom I admire, The New Yorker Magazine’s editor in chief, invited and then disinvited Steve Bannon to speak at the magazine’s October festival which for 19 years has included political, art and literary figures.

Photo: newyorker.com

Doha Madani with the Huffington Post, covered the reactions. He wrote that a New York Times article disclosed that the former White House chief strategist was to be a headliner. “The New Yorker’s readers and staffers accused Remnick of giving a platform to Bannon’s racism and white nationalist agenda after the Times article.” One columnist tweeted that she was “beyond appalled,” Madani wrote. Some of the speakers also protested.

Madani shared Bannon’s response to the withdrawn invitation, which he’d made in a statement to CNBC: “The reason for my acceptance was simple: I would be facing one of the most fearless journalists of his generation. In what I would call a defining moment, David Remnick showed he was gutless when confronted by the howling online mob.”

Madani continued “‘I don’t want well-meaning readers and staff members to think I’ve ignored their concerns,’ Remnick said in a statement Monday evening. ‘I’ve thought this through and talked to colleagues — and I’ve re-considered. I’ve changed my mind.’

David Remnick. Photo: newyorker.com

“Remnick said he ultimately decided that, while he would still interview Bannon for a journalistic piece, a festival was not the best forum for speaking to him. An additional reason for canceling Bannon’s appearance, Remnick said, was that the magazine would have paid him an honorarium, as well as for lodging and travel if Bannon spoke at the event, rather than for an article, which would be done without payment.”

I’ve produced countless industry events but the speakers were noncontroversial–and most approved by others–so I’ve not run into a situation like this. However I think that Remnick, who is used to looking controversy in the eye, should have kept Bannon on the lineup–though moved him to a lower position rather than that of headliner, if there was such a spot.

Do you think that Remnick should have stuck to his guns and not withdraw the invitation to Bannon; thought twice before inviting Bannon to participate in his festival in any capacity or tested the water before doing so? Have you had to similarly backtrack due to pressure by others?

Thursday, January 19th, 2017

I bought some items online during an after Christmas sale and almost three weeks later got a notice from the store that one of the items wasn’t available. OK. That happens. “LET US MAKE IT UP TO YOU,” came a proposal for a “gift”–$10 off a $100 purchase. This hit a sour note: It sounded like “heads they win; tails I lose.” Otherwise I like the store.

The next two examples are courtesy of the circulation departments of a magazine and newspaper considered top of the line in their categories. I subscribe to and admire both. However, they appear to be trying to save money by selecting under par fulfillment and promotion partners at just the time they need to excel.

The magazine has been nagging me to renew my subscription months early and if I do, I’ll get a free subscription as a gift. [Always suspicious, I envision losing the months I’ve already paid for, between now and the end of the original subscription, and I don’t want to waste time untangling this potential glitch.] Fine writing and elegance are just two of the magazine’s selling points and the subscription is costly. That’s why I didn’t expect to see a typo in the first word of the third line [“your”] printed on a piece of cheap scrap paper enclosed in their correspondence seeking my business. [See photo above.]

The newspaper didn’t deliver its weekend and Monday issues last week. I called customer service on Tuesday making clear that we didn’t want the credit, we wanted the newspapers. The operator [from a far-off land] said he understood. On Wednesday we received a second copy of the Tuesday issue. I called back and was told they would have to mail us the weekend and Monday copies and that this would take from seven to 10 days. I had already spent far too much time on this mistake and snapped “fine, do that,” and hung up. Still waiting.

All this reminds me of a restaurant we went to in the Berkshires years ago that served remarkable food in an enchanting setting with a terrible hostess who ran the room like a general during a military operation readiness inspection {ORI}. The tension her approach achieved added a false note to an otherwise pleasant experience. We learned later that her husband was the chef. Nevertheless, she ruined the evening.

Do you have other examples of an irritating detail that conflicted with the otherwise high quality of a product or service?

Thursday, August 20th, 2015

Earlier this week I visited a small segment of what was the International Gift Show—called NY Now these days, “tradeshow for the home, lifestyle and gift market”—highlights of which I’ve covered in past posts. I thought I’d form an impression of whether or not same sex marriage has impacted this industry’s products, color and design, but I stopped taking notes when I learned that there wasn’t a NY Now catalog to be had in the Javits Center: They’d run out–a first. OK, so everyone else studies their tablets. I miss my printed catalog, a wonderful resource.

Instead, I brought back to the office a stack of trade magazines. I’ve always had a weak spot for paper goods and Stationery Trends’ summer 2015 issue, the first one I opened, didn’t disappoint. I appreciated the hand of the cover, the stock on which it was printed, the layouts and many of the graphics of the featured cards such as one by Egg Press, “you’re my cup of tea,” photo at right, chosen to illustrate the article, “A Kinder, Gentler Navy.”

From the other issues I learned a lot about what is going on at retail, the economy and why.

Warren Shoulberg, [photo right, below], is one of the best writers, thinkers and speakers in the industry. In his opinion piece in HFN’s August 15 issue, the magazine’s editorial director covered retails’ rediscovery of outlets. After reviewing outlet history, he reported that today TJX is “outperforming virtually every other retailer in America.” [It owns TJMaxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods.] He warned that the format isn’t foolproof and mentioned the now defunct Loehman’s, Filene’s Basement and Conway. [I don’t know Conway, but to be fair the first two had long runs.]

Photo: tallyhofarm.co.uk

Shoulberg wrote, “what drives this channel is the pursuit of the bargain, not necessarily the bargain itself.” To make his point, Macy’s shoppers, he observed, can enjoy similar deep dish discounts if they add up all available coupons and promotions.

In his commentary in Home & Textiles Today, Shoulberg, who is editorial director here as well, explained why the home textiles and furnishings businesses are faltering: fewer new households. And why is that? College grads “and other 20-somethings are increasingly moving back into—or never leaving in the first place—their parents’ homes.” Shoulberg cites Pew Research Center findings that this situation is the worst “in recent memory” including the Great Recession. This reason, he wrote, has more impact on sales of these categories than housing starts or any other. He suggested that “If the kids are back home, that’s where the industry needs to be, too.”

He doesn’t have enough to do so Shoulberg’s also a contributing columnist at Gifts and Decorative Accessories where he advised that industry to become, like others, i.e. “more highly concentrated.” He continued, “But maybe, just maybe, there are economies of scale when companies get together and join forces.” Business-wise he’s right, but I long for a burgeoning 21st Century Arts & Crafts Movement, which the most exciting and creative aspects of this industry represent. Professionally and personally there are few places I enjoy visiting more than a wonderful craft fair—and the NY Gift Show—I mean NY Now.

In her LDB Interior Textiles editorial, Wanda Jankowski reports on a major shift in attitude regarding consumer spending in this country: Since 2008, the editor-in-chief wrote, “US consumers have learned to defer product gratification and accept that they can have something they want only if they figure out how to pay for it.” Good for us, not so good for retail.

In Nicole Leinbach Reyhle’s article, “What You Need to Know Now About The Upcoming EMV Changes,” in Museums & More, I learned that credit card fraud in the U.S. is around $8.6 billion/year and that experts expect it to increase to $10 billion this year. EMV, according to Google, “is a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which accept them.” Not good, though valuable, news.

What trade or specialty magazines—online or printed—do you follow? In making business or personal financial decisions do you take seriously the impact of the trends and developments such trade pundits share? Do you think what they write about their industries has significance well beyond them?

Thursday, October 17th, 2013

Seeing Straight

Did you know that Iowa grants gun permits to blind applicants? They fear that not doing so would be in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Giving for All to See

Publishing the amounts people give to charity is old as the hills and must work. Proud of my new last name I learned my lesson when newly married a thousand years ago. I put my name on the envelope I dropped in the basket at church only to see it listed in the monthly published donations at the lowest level.

Recently I almost offered a modest online donation to celebrate a friend’s father’s life when I noticed that the site was publishing each donation and name. As $100 wasn’t the amount I had in mind, I passed. There’s no way to tell how much charities don’t get because of potential donors like me though I’m sure they’ve worked out that public pressure ups totals.

How Dumb Are Their Readers?

One design magazine has dogged me to renew my subscription at $24/year or a “special offer” of $48 for two. A blow-in card in every issue boasts a $15 offer for new subscribers. Hmmm.

Can you add to this list? All three examples are head scratchers to me. Your thoughts?

Monday, July 29th, 2013

I like to tease out the significance of statistics, studies and findings and check them against my instinct and anecdotal observations. One place to find plenty of material is Mediabistro.com, a superb aggregator. From this site, in coverage about Barnes & Noble’s chief executive stepping down, I also read a digest-size update about the tablet business for books.

What a Pill

Barnes & Noble’s Nook and Amazon.com’s Kindle, among the best rated tablets for books, aren’t doing as well as expected and neither come near the iPad. Linking to TechCrunch’s coverage, Mediabistro noted that the Nook division’s income dropped 34 percent from last year at this time.

I imagine one reason for the disappointing results for Nooks and Kindles is that people think of them delivering “books exclusively”–maybe magazines, comics, a few games and kid’s flicks too, options that are just a start for the remarkable iPad with its apps and multiple functions.

On a recent visit to Barnes & Noble I saw the latest versions that do far more–almost everything an iPad can–email, tweet, access apps, minus the picture-taking function and for hundreds of dollars less. But who knew? A crucial breach in getting out the info to the hoi polloi perhaps?

Based on my observations on NYC subways, busses and Metro area commuter railroads, I thought the book tablet industry was booming. Shows yet again how unrepresentative of the rest of the country NYers are; how commuting by public transportation vs. private car must impact the need for and therefore the national sales of such devices; that the reading demographic uses iPads or still reads books on paper or simply that fewer are reading.

Galloping Along

The same July day Mediabistro shared highlights of a Gallup poll of almost 2,050 adults who said that they get their news from TV in 55 percent of cases followed by the Internet at 21 percent. They voiced their responses without the help of options provided by the survey taker.

I thought that the Internet would have done better if not best. According to Dylan Byers on Politico, “For all the focus on ‘social,’ including Facebook and Twitter, only 2 of the 21 percent mentioned such networks as their primary source for news,” he wrote in “Gallup: TV dominates as U.S. news source.” Newspapers or print material came in at nine percent with radio at six.

How Does This Add Up?

Mediabistro picked up FishbowlNY.com news which covered a Magazine Publishers Association report about the decline by five percent of consumer magazine advertising pages in the first quarter of this year compared to last. Wish this was a revelation.

The exceptions with “double digit ad page growth,” are also of little surprise given the health of the pharma/OTC health remedy and fashion industries: Prevention, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Women’s Health; Vogue, GQ and Elle. Only one, Saveur, was about food and one about decorating—HGTV Magazine.

Unless you already own one or both, were you to buy a tablet, would you buy an iPad or one of the others that cost $300 less? If you own a tablet, do you still read traditional books? Where do you get news? Are you surprised about the magazines rich with ad pages or that some categories or titles are missing from the list?

Thursday, March 14th, 2013

I’ve mentioned previously the advice a colleague gives her hotel clients: Welcome and encourage all travelers, not just the business guest who, while exiting the airport, checks in through a smartphone application [app] to learn his/her room number and doesn’t need a porter or any reception services. Remember the traditional traveler who wants to check in with a person: You need them both.

I thought of her warning–no doubt she knew of hotels that forgot their tech-deprived clients when eliminating jobs and/or services–when a friend described his frustrating experience reading a printed travel magazine from a major publisher. It was designed to be read on a tablet or smartphone and was almost useless as a printed document.

Information in the cover story about Rome, such as the address or phone number of a featured shop, hotel, restaurant or tourist attraction, was nowhere on the printed pages or in the back where editors sometimes tuck such information.

By comparison, last week’s New York Magazine listed an address and phone number for every one of hundreds of entries in its “Best of New York 2013” issue covering countless categories. Now that’s a keeper.

Back to the travel magazine: Its print edition has lost its way. It’s no longer of service to its readers and in so doing may soon divert most of them to the competition.

To find an address or phone number you have to be at a computer to type in each email address–such as palazzoesposizioni.it. Try getting that one right the first time from the italicized 8-point type. I got it wrong—left out one of the z’s–which is easy to do as most of the addresses are long and, for many of the readers, in a foreign language. Then what? Where do you write the address? There’s no room on the printed pages.

My friend wrote, “What a waste of money—I can’t be the only reader who feels cheated.”

Saving the article as-is for a trip file is out of the question. Who would subscribe or pay $5 for another newsstand copy?

Why, when companies jump on the latest bandwagon in search of new customers, do they so often forget about at least half of everyone else? Even the slickest and once smartest can be embarrassingly clumsy in making a transition or adding technology. Have you noticed similar examples in these or in different industries?

Monday, September 24th, 2012

In spite of lackluster economic forecasts I know of two launches last week, both made possible by a combination of intelligence, flare, diligence, hard work and technology.

You couldn’t have missed news of the iPhone 5-as much of a happening as an opportunity to upgrade–so there’s no point my going on about it except to wonder about the strategy of making millions of folks wait so long to get one.

First weekend sales, projected in the $8 to $10 million range, prove I don’t know what I’m talking about, but if you didn’t sign up at 5 a.m. on a certain day, or spend a week waiting in line outside a store–and I always wonder how these eager buyers can afford the phone if this is how they spend their time–you’ll get the device in about a month. In Apple time won’t the iPhone 5 be old news in 30 days?

Back to last week’s launches: You may have missed the premier issue of ISLE, a striking online magazine founded by its editor, Lisa McGee, an American living in Ireland.

ISLE is a celebration of that magical country. It doesn’t hurt my appreciation of the magazine that on my one trip to Ireland I, too, fell in love with the Emerald, well, Isle.

McGee isn’t any old émigré. She’s a well-regarded, successful editor on this side of the pond. She has equal measures of visual, styling and writing abilities in addition to a nose for what people want to see and know. ISLE–and what inspires it–is her palette and she’s a Vuillard [Jean-Édouard Vuillard is one of my favorite artists].

There are surprises among the blogs she highlights: One is written by a Mexican cook in Ireland.

Dunfanaghy

If you need a visual vacation, visit her coverage and photos of Inch House Country House and Restaurant-it’s actually in North Tipperary-or the seaside town of Dunfanaghy. Please don’t ask me to pronounce it but I’d love to go. As a craft lover I was intrigued to read about the 10 studios in Ceardlann an Spideal.

What about you: Have you been nurturing a new business or product idea? If you are bursting with an idea will you launch regardless of the economy? I can’t tell you how the iPhone 5 works but think that the first issue of ISLE is a keeper-don’t you?

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

I continue to see people on trains, subways, in our apartment house [as evidenced by piles left outside front doors for garbage pickup] and in the library who read magazines and newspapers. There is increasing evidence that while the print patient is sick, not all of it is on life support.

My observations are anecdotal, for sure. But take a gander at some of the things I’ve read lately:

From the Wallets of Billionaires

Warren Buffet told The Daily Beast‘s Howard Kurtz why he has and continues to buy newspapers: “‘It’s not a soft-headed business decision,’ the 81-year-old investor tells me from his Omaha office.” Kurtz continued: “In putting his considerable money where his mouth is-Buffett’s company is in the process of buying 63 Media General newspapers for $142 million-the chief executive is challenging the widespread belief that the industry is trapped in a death spiral.” The papers he’s after “have to serve smaller markets where there is ‘more of a feeling of community,'” wrote Kurtz.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg reads eight traditional newspapers a day and says “he prefers magazines the old fashioned way, despite having an iPad,” according to news aggregator Mediabistro.com, covering posts in VentureBeat and FishbowlNY. The news sources remind us that most of Bloomberg’s fortune has been made in the digital news and data service businesses.

Fashion and Beauty’s Youth Appeal

And print isn’t just for old fogies. In Adweek, Emma Bazilian recently covered statistics to prove the point in “Condé Nast Finds Magazine Readership Growing Among Millennials.” Note: I was confused by the word “millennial” in the title as the youngest of the millennials, who can be as old as 37, is 23 yet the article spotlights readers in the 18 to 24 age range.

Nevertheless, “Fashion and beauty magazines attract about 50 percent more young readers than they did in 2001, and while young women typically ‘grew out’ of these titles fairly quickly as they aged, they now read these magazines long after they leave their mid-20s.”

Bazilian continued, “Men’s magazines also gained ground with the 18-to-24 set, thanks to the addition of lad mags like Maxim and the ‘phenomenal growth’ of male fitness titles such as Men’s Health.” Bazilian was quoting Scott McDonald, svp of market research for the publisher.

Not surprising, the pulse for women’s service and news magazines is increasingly weak. The former, according to the article, didn’t keep up with the fact that most of their readers no longer stay at home and millenials turn to the Internet for news.

Mobility

Then there’s Tracie Powell, in Poynter, who wrote “Consumers aren’t rushing to replace their magazine and newspaper subscriptions with mobile news products, according to a new survey by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri.”

Her article, “Survey: Mobile users as likely to be print news subscribers as non-mobile users,” continued “The survey shows that although nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults use at least one mobile device per day, nearly equal percentages of mobile media device users and non-users – 39.8 percent and 40.2 percent respectively–said they still subscribed to at least one newspaper or news magazine, which suggests users of smartphones and tablets aren’t abandoning print media.”

So where are you on the life of print? Am I looking at mortally wounded vehicles of communication and sources of information, placing hope on the thinnest strands of signs of life? Will the publishing industry–and some of the billionaires who continue to enjoy holding paper when they read–find ways to save print?

Monday, April 30th, 2012

I’ve written many posts that illustrate business behavior or decisions that deserve this reaction. Recently I’ve noticed a rash of examples that inspired me to revisit the question.

Humor Doesn’t Always Translate

I saw a scarf manufactured by a well known Italian fashion brand. Prominently printed along an edge in fancy script were the words “cheap & chic.” European or rich person’s humor, perhaps? At $80, the scarf represented the couture brand’s bargain basement price point. In spite of the pretty pattern and colors, the words translated to “what were they thinking?” Can you imagine the reaction of the recipient of such a gift?

My Stars

Another well known apparel brand, this one with retail stores of the same name, sells a tee-shirt with a yellow star reminiscent of the symbol Jews had to wear in Nazi Germany. Wonder what the stylist-and his/her boss-had in mind? One of the hosts of the WABC radio program “Religion on the Line” was not amused.

You Can’t Have That

Leafing through the pages of a once-favorite decorating magazine, I stopped at the image of a bright red and white bedroom ensemble. Most of the photo captions on the page were obscured by the dropout type on dark background. Centrally placed in the largest type on a white background I read: “____[name of store] no longer stocks this toile headboard, but the company still sells the matching dust ruffle.”

I couldn’t see the dust ruffle in the photo [though a friend said he could see a little bit of it]. The coordinating floral comforter took up most of the image but there was no mention of it.

Pay Your Debts

And then there was the Secret Service person who didn’t pay his Columbian prostitute. Now was that the time to be cheap?

Race to Play

On NJ.com, Christopher Baxter wrote “N.J. state troopers face probe for ‘Death Race 2012’ down Parkway to AC.” According to Baxter, two troopers “escorted a caravan of luxury sports cars at speeds in excess of 100 mph down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City last month.” Baxter quoted one of two witnesses, Wayne Gantt, who complained to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority: “I had the great pleasure today of nearly being killed by, not one, but two, Lamborghinis traveling in excess of 110 mph in a (New Jersey State Police) escorted ‘caravan’ of approximately 30 exotic vehicles all traveling well over 100 mph.” What a precedent for the next time a state trooper tries to ticket a driver for going 75 mph in a 65 mph zone.

Guess the police and the sports car drivers don’t remember how former NJ Governor Corzine was almost killed when he urged his chauffeur to travel at 90+ mph down a turnpike and the car smashed into something. Speed must be in the air in that state.

Can you explain what these people were thinking or add other examples to the list?

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

I’ve seen and heard so many instances of pennies wise pounds foolish lately. I’m a veteran bargain hunter and commend-even celebrate–prudent purchasing. I have never believed that more expensive automatically means better. I relish value for my money. But some go overboard to the detriment of themselves or others.

Now I See You, Now I Don’t

The New York Department of Motor Vehicles is considering the path of 14 other [misguided] states. In discussion: To remove passing an eye test as a license requirement. In New York today, if you don’t want to be tested in person you can send in a form signed by your eye doctor.

Under a new plan, applicants would check a box to confirm that they can see just fine. When questioned, the only defense department spokespeople had was that other states are doing it. So New York wants to have thousands of Mr. Magoo’s on the road too? Bad plan.

Up, Up and Away

An airline steward called The Frommer Travel Show the other week and warned cruise goers who need to fly to the embarkation city to arrive the day before. Air travel is iffy, becoming worse weekly, between weather and regulations and goodness knows what. The Frommers constantly share this advice with their radio show audience as well.

The steward said, “To miss the ship for a once-in-a-lifetime cruise to save the cost of one night at a hotel is foolish.” By arriving early, you do save something-a ton of stress.

Not a Wrap

The more brand name stores hand me a folded carton and tissue paper for me to wrap a gift-or nothing at all– the more they confirm the sense of my discount store shopping sprees.

No Proof

I may sound sarcastic here but I can only imagine that publishers are saving on proofs when I can’t read a caption or copy in a magazine or newspaper spread because of a background that visually swallows up the words. Otherwise wouldn’t somebody–an assistant editor, an intern, the deli deliveryman waiting for his money at reception with a spread being reviewed by the receptionist–catch this?

Doesn’t Ad Up

My husband pointed to a full page ad in the Sunday New York Times Book Review section recently that left out a crucial piece of information: Who is this history book about?

There was a photo of a past American President on the cover, but the face wasn’t familiar to my husband who has read thousands of pages of American history and has a great memory! [I didn’t recognize him either.] The title included the word President–not which one. Maybe you can read who the cover boy is when holding the hardcover in your hand. You sure couldn’t find out on this page.

The ad had plenty of copy filling up the page–the usual praise from reviews and fellow authors such as “gripping” and “compulsive reading” to “harrowing and fascinating saga” and “crackling tale of suspense.” Maybe this major publisher’s marketing director was fired to save money. His/her assistant was tapped marketing director, saving thousands on salary and losing thousands more from such elementary mistakes.